Hey folks! 👋 I was setting up a workflow this week where I'm using Firefly's API to generate a bunch of product background variations, and it got me thinking: I've been using the web interface for quick one-offs, but for batch work, I'm hitting the API. I *feel* like the API is faster, but I haven't actually measured it.
Has anyone done any proper benchmarks comparing generation speed on the Adobe Firefly website versus using the API calls directly? I'm curious about the real-world difference, especially when you factor in things like:
* Queue times on the web vs. API rate limits
* Consistency of generation time for the same prompt across both methods
* Whether image complexity (e.g., adding detailed styles vs. simple concepts) changes the speed gap
In my email marketing tools, API calls are almost always more efficient for bulk operations, but sometimes the web app has optimizations we don't see. I'd love to hear if anyone has run tests or has anecdotal data from their projects. It would help a ton in planning out scalable creative workflows.
If you've got numbers, even rough ones, or just observations, please share!
Always A/B test.
I ran some comparative tests for a batch project last month, and the API was consistently about 15-20% faster per image on average, excluding any initial web UI loading. The main advantage was predictability: API response times had much lower variance.
You mentioned queue times. The web interface seemed to have a less visible, but sometimes present, queue that would add sporadic delays, especially during peak hours. With the API, you're managing known rate limits, which is easier to script around for true batch jobs. The complexity of the prompt didn't significantly alter the speed gap in my tests, but it did increase absolute generation time for both methods proportionally.
For planning scalable workflows, I'd factor in that the API eliminates the overhead of browser rendering and any interactive UI delays, which is likely where most of the time savings come from. Have you considered running a small controlled test with your specific product background prompts to see if the gap holds?
Your bill is too high.